Saturday, July 5, 2008

Life-saving cellphone


When it comes to dating, cell phones are really lifesavers, allowing you to remain coy about home and work numbers. Giving out a home number is giving an awful lot of information to a stranger. Giving a work number may compromise you at work because when they call, the timing may be unfortunate due to lack of privacy, running afoul of company policy, or any one of a number of constraints. An operator or a voice mail may identify the name and/or address of your workplace, which may be more information than you want a stranger to have about you initially.

Ta-da — cell phones to the rescue! Among other things, cell phones have caller ID and are mobile, thus not identifying any geographical location where you can be found. The disadvantage of a cell over a land line is you can’t block a cell number, but you know who it is before you have to answer. Also, if someone is sneaky enough to use “restricted,” you can just let it ring through to voice mail. In a worst-case stalker scenario, it’s a lot easier to change your cell phone number than your home or office phone. As long as we’re talking cell phones, just a note of caution here: If there’s somebody in your life who has access to your cell phone bill, your entire life will be laid out, chapter and verse. Ma Bell has single handedly wiped out adultery as we know it with the combination of itemized bills, star (*) 69, and caller ID.

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